TEHRAN — Environmental issues are global challenges and no single country can manage to overcome them independently, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday.

Zarif made the remarks during a ceremony for planting trees as a sign of friendship and peace with diplomatic delegations in attendance.

Some are trying to ignore this, but in fact the whole world are suffering “a dangerous truth” which is the environmental degradation, countries, even those fully equipped, are not capable of addressing them independently, Mehr news agency quoted Zarif as saying. 

“We are all on board on the same boat, either we all make it to the shore or we all sink,” he explained. 

Elsewhere in his remarks the minister underlined the fact that the world should be the world of “Noruz” (literally meaning a new day) and not a world of violence, disagreement, and discrimination. The world should be the world of “tree planting and return to nature, beauty and vitality,” he added.

Each one of us is responsible for the environment, each one of us can bring about a change in our environment and we cannot deny it, he noted. 

He finally expressed hope that “things that bring us closer outnumber the things that cause dissent among the nations so that we can create a better world for our children.”

MQ/MG